Our brave youth

I feel immense pride when I see young people standing up for being Jewish and not allowing our haters to get the better of them. We live in a country where, unfortunately, it’s not particularly popular to be a Zionist, especially in certain political segments.

And though there are those in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and African National Congress (ANC) who may not approve of what or how we teach our children, our educators do an exceptional job. We teach our children to be independent thinkers and people who will succeed because they are confident in themselves, their abilities, and in being Jewish. (See story on page 5.)

A 30-year-old Cape Town resident was subjected to vile antisemitism and refused to just accept it. (See story on page 4.) Eventually, the aggressor was forced to apologise. “In spite of this, I will continue to be proud of my Judaism, my identity, my heritage, and my community,” he said. These aren’t the words of a victim, but a victor, someone who won’t let others demean or harm them.

In another story (page 2) we have a 31-year-old woman who stood up to vile antisemitic politician Mehmet Vefa Dag and his hateful social media posts. He then turned on her, but it didn’t deter her at all. “I’ve had enough of people getting away with spewing so much antisemitic hate and no-one doing anything about it,” she said.

Yet another brave and powerful young person.

Then, you have the inimitable Gabriella Farber-Cohen, an observant Zionist Jew and a pivotal member of the African National Congress Women’s League in Gauteng. Gabi is only in her 20s, but has the respect and admiration of many in the ruling party. Can I hazard a guess that this may have something to do with her eternally sunny disposition and no-nonsense stance?

I love her effervescent positivity about South Africa and our lives here. Her sentiments were enhanced by her recent attendance of an international Jewish conference and hearing the plight of other Jews around the world. (See page 10.)

Her positivity reminded me of the school children who wrote for us for Youth Day in last week’s edition, their intrinsic confidence in South Africa, and what they could do to improve it.

The apathy and heaviness we so often observe in adults doesn’t seem to be there in our youth. Instead, there’s a sense that the country is what they – or we – make of it.

They don’t go in for complaining and government-bashing. Instead, they seem to believe that the country can improve only if they participate in doing what’s necessary.

I’m generalising – as I do – but I believe that’s exactly what we and this country need. We don’t need people who are going to be racist, antisemitic, anti-Israel, homophobic, etcetera. We do need people who will stand up for themselves and for what’s right, fight for it if need be, and make it their business to build and heal this country. With people like that, this country will succeed.

The sad thing is that there appears to be a growing need for the youth to defend themselves or stand up for who they are, especially in terms of being Zionists.

I find it incredible how a positive word that most of us are proud to call ourselves has become a virtual swear word.

Being a Zionist has nothing whatsoever to do with apartheid ideology or genocide, as our haters want the world to believe. It’s simply a person who believes in the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel.

And for a nation that has been through what we have been through, with antisemitism through the centuries, supporting a state for Jews should be perfectly understandable and respected. However, if you don’t believe Jews deserve a state, and you want to find a reason to scapegoat them, then you can turn a word like Zionism into anything you would like.

You can also demonise a school for absolutely no good reason but that it fits your agenda.

The fact that Jewish children who go to a Jewish school love the state of Israel can hardly be a big surprise. You cannot separate Israel and Jews. We’re intrinsically linked. We may be South Africans who are deeply passionate about our country, but spiritually, we’ll always be connected to Israel.

What many people fail to understand is that every single day, we pray about G-d taking care of Zion and Jerusalem; going back to Zion and Jerusalem; rebuilding Jerusalem; and so it goes on. But perhaps it’s because of this that our haters know that by attacking Israel for everything it is, they are essentially attacking Jews.

It makes me so sad that people feel the need to hate and find ways to demean their victims.

As our former great leader, Nelson Mandela, said, “No-one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Would that the EFF and ANC took heed of what this unique man had to say, and rather turn their energy to building bridges and our country rather than denigrating those who have a different belief system or background. But perhaps what we’re seeing in our Jewish youth, other communities are seeing in theirs. Perhaps it will take the youth from all backgrounds to get together and find a way forward.

Here’s to our youth making a difference!

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor